Combinatory Play (and its troubling absence in music)

One of the great benefits of being human is that we get to experience pleasure from something as simple as combining old things in new ways and marveling at the unexpected results.

It may be one of the few things that is both pleasurable and productive. Albert you-know-who said that “Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”

Taking it further, combination is the essential feature in not just productive thought but all thought. There is not really such a thing as original thought. The best we can do is combine old ideas in new ways. Fortunately, given the uncountably many possible combinations that exist in the Universe, most of our combinations end up being "new".

If the essence of creativity (and thought more generally) is combining old ideas in new ways, then I want to know why so many creative types choose to pursue work that fits snugly within existing categories.

That was the feeling I got when I learned of a new band on Sound Opinions called Clive Tanaka y Su Orchestre. Maybe the best way to describe it is, awesomely, “tropical electronica”.

Awesomer still is that it’s probably just one guy, but we know nothing about him. He refuses to put his songs online or even sell a CD. Instead, if you send him $6 he will send you a cassette tape. (Out of admiration, I bought one even though I have nothing to play it on. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he emails you mp3's along with your cassette purchase.) You can get a taste of his stuff (but not the stuff from the cassette) here.

This "topical electronica" business reminded me of two other musical combinations I found endearing: Hindugrass (Indian classical + bluegress) and Sci-Fi Folk.

And that inspired me to think about what other interesting musical combinations we are missing. My partial dreamed-up list is below. May it pleasure your imagination as it did mine.

gabber jazz
hardcore britpop
electro deutschpunk
emo funk
flamenco viking metal
acoustic rocksteady
motown baroque
celtic reggaeton
saxaphone bluegrass
mali swing
violin thrash metal
funk rockabilly
gypsy dancehall
tropical melodic death metal
electro bhangra
ambient punk
hindi slow jams
afrobeat opera
irish r&b
arabic smooth jazz
post-chillout
polish raggamuffin
latin swing
bollywood blues
ambient pop country
bluegrass slow jams
jazz piano ska
fusion soul train
new age pop punk
disco hip hop
jungle classical
urban folk
experimental americana
neo-soul country
chillout funk
salsa ska
ambient indian
deutschpunk bellydance
technojazz
ambient saxaphone
downtempo freak folk
powerpop polish